I fired off an email to Zen technical support this morning with links to my various speed tests. They have checked the line and apparently there are 'congestion issues'. At least there's a reason for the slow single thread speeds.
Apparently BT have marked the equipment handling my line as having capacity issues which is due to be loooked at. Zen are going to update me when they get further info.
This a a brand new FTTP roll out and only a very small number of the CBTs along the road have any connections which makes me think it's highly unlikely for there to be congestion on the GPON part of things. Is this an exchange issue or something further 'upstream'?
The fact that BT have identified the problem is good but I suppose it could take weeks / months / years to get it sorted. Not sure what adding extra capacity actually involves.
What constitutes a line failing to be 'as advertised' in FTTP terms??

I know they offer 100Mb guarantee with G.Fast, not sure if FTTP is the same I'm sure others will comment.

With a residential ISP there's absolutely no guarantee on single thread performance.

Hopefully an SV-LAN running hot at the exchange. Usually resolved in 48-72 hours if it's just a config change needed.

Occasionally the ISP will come back with a quote of weeks/months for a fix if specific upgrades are needed.

Edited by j0hn83 (Sat 20-Oct-18 16:46:18)

Are you on 330/30 or 330/50?

Openreach prioritised rate for these downstream are 40Mb and 110Mb respectively.

As you say however, the PON is new and likely few connected so it's unlikely to be PON congestion, but bear the above in mind.

Based on what they have said to you I'd imagine they are talking about a BT Wholesale SVLAN.
This might need a change to a different GEA Cablelink, or simply a logical change wholesale's side.
Alternatively if the support rep said "BT" out of hand and Zen are on net at your OHP, it may just be their own cablelink capacity.

I'm on the 330/50 product, interesting point on the prioritised rate. Is this an Openreach or a BT Retail thing?

Does sound like a Wholesale issue as the ISP have said 'Wholesale have marked the equipment handling your line as having capacity issues which is something due to be looked at.'

I have been trying to get my head around how the contention affects threads. Found another post on the form that explains it well and the 'good neighbour' system. If the network is capping streams around the 70-80mpbs mark then I can live with that I suppose. It's not going to have a huge impact apart from where I'm downloading a big file (which could be done about 4 times quicker) or streaming and even then 80mbps is more than enough for even 4K. I have seen it dip well below this though and xbox updates falling to the 20-30mbps mark which is really not acceptable.

'm on the 330/50 product, interesting point on the prioritised rate. Is this an Openreach or a BT Retail thing?

OpenReach.

I have seen it dip well below this though and xbox updates falling to the 20-30mbps mark which is really not acceptable.

Who do you plan on blaming for that one though? Many many many sites on the internet will not ever fill your line up. If Microsoft/Xbox are only pushing 30Mb to you then it doesn't matter how fast your line can go.

It might be easy enough to max out an FTTC line but when you start trying to pull 330Mb you will quickly notice many sites just don't push out anywhere near that.
Not all services are multi threaded either.

have been trying to get my head around how the contention affects threads. Found another post on the form that explains it well and the 'good neighbour' system. If the network is capping streams around the 70-80mpbs mark then I can live with that I suppose.

Out of interest where are you getting the 70-80Mb figure?
The chances of the local PON link being filled are very very low.
Every single 1 of the other 31 neighbours (32 including you) need to be maxing out 330Mb for you to drop that low because of them.
They don't all tends to take 330Mb. Many are happy with 40/55/80Mb products.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

'm on the 330/50 product, interesting point on the prioritised rate. Is this an Openreach or a BT Retail thing?

OpenReach.

I have seen it dip well below this though and xbox updates falling to the 20-30mbps mark which is really not acceptable.

Who do you plan on blaming for that one though? Many many many sites on the internet will not ever fill your line up. If Microsoft/Xbox are only pushing 30Mb to you then it doesn't matter how fast your line can go.

Its not Microsoft/Xbox due to I get the full 310/50 with them every time I download anything, its almost the same with Sony PSN where I get about 245 - 290Mbits.

But it all depends on what it is downloading, if its several thousands of very small files then yeah it will slow down, but that's not the connection but more to the hard drive the files are being written to.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

It might be easy enough to max out an FTTC line but when you start trying to pull 330Mb you will quickly notice many sites just don't push out anywhere near that.
Not all services are multi threaded either.

This I fully agree, I have seen a couple of sites not able to provide the full speed of my connection, but it might be capped their end.

Paul

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Out of interest where are you getting the 70-80Mb figure?
The chances of the local PON link being filled are very very low.
Every single 1 of the other 31 neighbours (32 including you) need to be maxing out 330Mb for you to drop that low because of them.
They don't all tends to take 330Mb. Many are happy with 40/55/80Mb products.

The 70-80 figure is the speed I am typically seeing when I download something. It's sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less. I'm not suggesting it's due to everyone on the PON maxing out their connection simultaneously which would be close to impossible since there are still very few connections locally. I understand that not every server on the internet is capable of saturating 330mbps and don't expect that to be the case. I am, however, seeing these speeds from servers that I would expect to be able to provide more. Examples are the large test file from this site and also from Microsoft - Paul has clarified that Xbox updates are quite capable of nearly maxing out the connection

Hi all and sorry for still going on about my speeds.
As I mentined there was reported to be some congestion but that has now been reported as clear. Unfortunately my speeds are still a bit of a mystery. I have been in continued contact with Zen support who have been very responsive. I'm still able to max out the connection on DSL reports speed test - got 317/50 this evening on a PPPoE connection to the ONT. TBB speed test has averaged around 250 on the 6x test and around 60-80 for single thread, but this will burst to 150+ for brief seconds.

Looking at Paul's test he's getting full speed on both tests from very early on. Mine seems to start with a decent speed then slowly decline. Could this still be a sign of congestion?

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Nov-18 23:47:11)

In reply to a post by DrSteve:

TBB speed test has averaged around 250 on the 6x test and around 60-80 for single thread, but this will burst to 150+ for brief seconds.

Are you getting the same TBB results during daytime or in the middle of the night? If you are its unlikely to be congestion and something to do with the Zen's routing.

Edited by deleted (Tue 06-Nov-18 08:12:39)

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Are you getting the same TBB results during daytime or in the middle of the night? If you are its unlikely to be congestion and something to do with the Zen's routing.

Yep, speeds are the same pretty much any time. Haven't tried middle of the night but have run tests after midnight and before 7am on a Saturday morning

Edited by deleted (Tue 06-Nov-18 08:16:10)